Category: Garden Franchise

Ed’s newest gardening businesses are bursting into blossom this spring…

Ed’s newest gardening businesses – the background

Four new business owners join Ed’s around the same time a few months ago. They are now all fully trained and up and running. Now we have three fledgling brand new Ed’s franchise businesses. We also have one franchise resale business.

We caught up with our newest business owners and asked for their reflections on how things are going for them and their Ed’s experiences so far…

Ant (Ed’s Orpington East)

“I’m really pleased with how things are going for me so far. It’s interesting how all the building blocks and training just slot into place, and you just know what to do. The Ed’s franchise model is definitely an efficient machine! Already I’m feeling confident in estimating work and delivering the services. I have had some really great jobs since I’ve started. What’s more, I am already building up a great group of regular customers and am making good progress in building strong relationships with them.”

” I think it is much easier to put yourself out there as you know that you always have good back up. If there is anything I am unsure about, I am only a phone call away from getting all the answers. You can’t underestimate the value of having a great network of experienced business owners to drawn from. What has really struck me is that you get a real sense of everyone wanting you to succeed in Ed’s. It’s such a positive environment in which to grow your own business. Definitely a great team to be part of.”

Stuart (Ed’s Swindon East)

“I have been blown away by the Ed’s business opportunity. Before I joined, I had the sense that there was a lot of potential when growing an Ed’s business. However, the reality has outstripped my expectations by a country mile! I’ve only been going a few months and already my business is truly flying. I don’t have enough capacity to meet the demand for my work.”

“The potential for my business is huge – the sky is the limit. What has becoming crystal clear to me since starting is my commitment to making the most of this great opportunity . I foresee building both scale and efficiency into my business. I am proud of what I’ve achieved already (and I’ve only just started) and my plans for the future are ambitious.”

David (Ed’s Paddock Wood)

“I’m really enjoying being part of the Ed’s team and I am thrilled that my business is gaining traction by the day. I learned lots in my on the job training and I’m feeling confident taking on new work. I feel like I am learning lots every day. I’ve done a few more complex jobs now and it is so useful to be able to talk them through with someone who has a lot of experience of running a business like mine.”

“It’s true that I absolutely love this type of outdoor work. I genuinely can’t think of something I would rather spend my days doing. I was working in a beautiful garden on a lovely sunny day a few weeks back and thought ‘Wow, this is my job now, what could be better!’ It really was a kind of pinch myself moment. I’m looking forward to seeing my business go from strength to strength as it continues to grow in the future.”

Richard (Ed’s Tunbridge Wells)

“I bought my Ed’s business in Tunbridge Wells from David, a very successful Ed’s business owner who wanted to move on. The quality of the business I have invested in is truly excellent. David gave me an amazing handover and training package. Furthermore, the transition to Ed’s business owner has been very smooth indeed.”

“Since I took over, I have been building my relationships with the customers I have inherited and there has been no shortage of new work as well. I am very busy and thriving. I remember looking at David running his business and thinking “Wow, what a great life that would be”. Now it is my life! David and I both love music and travel and the flexibility of an Ed’s business appealed greatly to me. The potential profitability was attractive but the lifestyle certainly was too. I couldn’t be more at ease with my decision to join Ed’s.”

Team spirit

Ed’s recently got all of our new business owners together with some well seasoned ones in their wider area for a training session and an informal lunch. It’s true that we like to keep things fun at Ed’s and a good time was had by all. Furthermore, feedback from our new business owners was that it was a great session. They found it very worthwhile, both for increasing knowledge and their confidence as well as for building relationships with other Ed’s business owners.

We are delighted that our newest business owners have settled in so well and that they are getting into their stride. We wish them all the best for the rest of their first year and we look forward to updating on their future success.

If you would like to find out more about joining the Ed’s team, please click here

Building a bright future – Ed’s welcomes Ant to the team

Building a bright future is at the heart of Ant’s recent decision to join the Ed’s team. Ant will be running his brand new gardening franchise business in Orpington East.

Here’s what Ant has to say about his decision to join Ed’s and his experience so far.

What’s your career background and what makes you tick?

“My most recent job was in construction recruitment. However, I have worked in different roles across a range of sectors over the years. I definitely embrace change and I have always been drawn to challenging, people-focused roles requiring drive, determination and entrepreneurial spirit. I love new challenges. Keeping fit and healthy is also important to me. Having an outdoors job with flexibility for sport and family life is a huge advantage.”

“I’ve enjoyed the roles I’ve had in the past. However, for some time, I’ve had the feeling of being at a career crossroads. Furthermore, I’ve had a sense that it is the right time to be striking out to build something for myself. I have reached that sweet spot of having the right level of life and career experience to make the most of an opportunity. Yet I still have lots of energy to throw at it. It is the perfect time for me to make a bold move.”

Building a bright future – Why gardening?

“I really wanted to get away from a desk and to pursue a career that was in harmony with my priority to keep fit and healthy. I definitely prefer to be out in nature rather than stuck indoors. In addition, I enjoy physical work and I like seeing the results of my efforts. Finally, I love engaging with people, building relationships and delivering services that make my customers happy.”

Building a bright future – Why an Ed’s franchise?

“First and foremost I wanted to avoid a lot of the legwork that is involved in starting up an independent business from scratch. I wanted to get out and into gardens rather than spend ages getting everything set up properly. Furthermore, I wanted a recipe for success in which I had confidence. With Ed’s it’s all really straightforward. I am plugging into a successful and established business that has years of experience already under its belt. This means I can benefit from that presence right from the very start and see results. I can hit the ground running, which is massively appealing to me.”

“Beyond all that, I just felt right about Ed’s – professional office team, great business model, great franchisees, great support, lots of work. What’s not to like? I’d go as far as to say that I have had a lot of fun just getting to this stage. I believe that work should be fun, life is too short for it to be otherwise.”

Training and getting ready to go

“With Ed’s there is a very structured approach to getting you up and running. We’ve got a very detailed checklist of things we have to work through to make sure I am business ready and I’m almost there! This has not been overwhelming at all. The office are always on hand to help and the other business owners are very friendly and only too happy to share their experience with you. I really like that approach.”

“I’m working my way through my training. I consider it a big plus that Ed’s training is bespoke. It doesn’t feel like a sausage factory with one size fits all. The office team take into account your experience and skillset when pairing you up with established business owners for the practical element of the training. It all feels very personal.”

“Another great thing with the Ed’s training is that it is mixed up to keep it interesting. There are many strands to the training, both office based and out in the field. For example, this week we have had a regional group training session. Ed’s has had a number of new franchisees join recently. They were all there as well as some very experienced Ed’s franchisees. Ed himself was there too, of course. We rounded it all off with a nice pub lunch and the mix between formal training and getting to know people was just right.”

“I can see how this approach keeps the training real and fresh. I’ve got a good network of franchisees already. It’s great to have a little group of franchisees who are all at a similar stage to me but also have access to people who just have at their experienced fingertips all the answers you could possibly need!”

Future plans

“My priority is to concentrate on building the foundations of a business that will thrive. However, looking beyond that, I feel like the sky is the limit with an opportunity like this. I love the idea of building a business of scale whilst having the freedom to maintain my lifestyle. It’s so important to me that I’ll have the freedom to be the architect of exactly the right business for me. I can’t really think of a better prospect than that.”


We wish Ant all the best with his new Ed’s business and we look forward to supporting him to reach his business and lifestyle goals.

Safety in numbers – A key consideration

Safety in numbers was a key consideration for David, our newest Ed’s business owner in Paddock Wood.

Over to David to run us through the decision making process that led to him joining Ed’s…

David’s background…

“I have an Economics degree and was previously an equity analyst for a bank. Therefore, I understand the significance of numbers. I had been attracted to running my own gardening business for a while. However, I was concerned about the numbers not stacking up to generate a good enough income. Then my lightbulb moment came! I realised that to pursue my goal and also mitigate risks to a level that I was comfortable with, I really needed a good franchise behind me.”

Safety in numbers – The start of David’s Ed’s story…

“When I searched online for gardening franchises, Ed’s immediately jumped out at me. The website felt fresh and informative and Ed’s just stood out from the rest of the franchises that popped up. Once I had registered my interest and read the prospectus, it was clear that I could get all the positives such as free rein on my creativity, the excitement of building my own business and freedom to work when I wanted. However, one of the biggest attractions for me was that I could significantly mitigate the risks that come with setting up and running my own business. That realisation really was a game changer for me.”

Safety in numbers and a road map to results…

“With Ed’s you have a route map to grow strong profits. You really hit the ground running and are profitable right from your first year of business. That’s quite compelling when many independent businesses barely break even in their first year of operation. It was so reassuring to learn about lots of other Ed’s business owners running strong businesses following exactly the same business model as I would be. It was crystal clear that Ed’s has a clear formula for success.”

The Chemistry also had to be right…

“Of course, while the figures are important, it needed to be much more than that when I was taking such a big decision. For me it felt like the chemistry needed to be right with Ed’s for me to be truly comfortable with my decision to join. I needed to feel inspired and excited about joining the team. However, I needn’t have worried. As soon as I started to talk to the office team and Ed himself, it all clicked. Everyone was positive, professional and very open with answers to all of my questions. This was further cemented when I got to speak to Ed’s business owners and saw what could be done with these businesses. The fit felt exactly right for me. For someone like me, who is naturally very analytical, the decision to sign up with Ed’s was remarkably easy.”

Tiny acorns…

“Now that I have signed up, I feel like I am already planting all the seeds that are the foundations of my future business. I’ve started various elements of my training and putting the building blocks in place for my new business. This preparation means that I will be in pole position when I am ready to start work in the coming months. I understand that doing this part properly will set me up in excellent stead for the future”

Looking to my future…

“I can’t wait for spring to start springing so I can get on with developing my business. Furthermore, I really want to make the most of all the opportunities that Ed’s gives me. Even when buying my first vehicle, I was already wondering how long it would be before I buy my second one! I know the opportunities are huge and I want to take full advantage of them.”

“Naturally I feel a little apprehensive about the coming months because it’s all new. However, I frequently remind myself that in Ed’s I have a wealth of experience all around me. What’s more, I am already benefitting from that collective experience, just buying my kit and vehicle. That kind of reassurance certainly helps calm the nerves!”

We wish David all the very best with his Ed’s gardening franchise business and watch this space to hear how his new business grows.

New Gardener – Ryan has joined the Ed’s team

New gardener alert!

Ryan Carey has recently joined Ed’s as our gardener in Eastleigh, Hampshire. Ryan has taken over an existing Ed’s gardening business. He has been spending a lot of time with Peter, our previous gardener, and is all set to take his business forward, acquiring more loyal customers. Ryan is very much looking forward to servicing customers in his local community.

Certainly Ryan has transferable previous experience. His previous life was as a landscape gardener and he is now turning his hand to providing garden maintenance services.

Ryan’s plans for the future

Ryan says “I am delighted to be joining Ed’s. I love working in gardens and I really look forward to delivering excellent garden services to all my existing and future customers. In summary, I cover lawn mowing, hedge cutting, garden clearances, garden tidy ups and jet washing. However, I am happy to discuss any of your garden’s needs and tailor a service to suit that. Furthermore, I am happy to do large or small jobs, whatever my customers require to have their gardens looking their very best. Certainly, I thrive on providing excellent customer service and I am so excited about joining the Ed’s team. “

If Ryan can help you with any of your gardening needs, please get in touch.

New Gardener Alert – Byfleet has a new gardener

New Gardener Alert… We are delighted to announce that Nick Fewlass has recently joined Ed’s team of gardeners to run his franchise gardening business in Byfleet, Surrey. In fact, just a stone’s throw away from Brooklands, the famous historic spot where British motorsport began.

Nick comes to Ed’s with a wealth of gardening experience. Indeed, most recently he has worked for a large private estate for a number of years.

Ed’s is happy to welcome Nick to our great team and we look forward to seeing him develop his new business and take it from strength to strength.

New Gardener Alert – Nick’s initial thoughts…

Here’s what Nick has to say about his new Ed’s challenge…

“Well, first of all, I’m delighted to become part of the Ed’s team. It’s true that I do have a lot of gardening experience. However, I am also humble enough to know that a gardener is constantly learning. In summary, every day is a school day! Every garden is different and deserves to be treated as such. Furthermore, I consider building a successful gardening business up to be a marathon rather than a sprint. Success is built on hard work and developing strong relationships with customers. I want that ethos to be at the very core of my business. If you’ve got that, in my opinion, you’ve got a solid business.”

“Certainly I am looking forward to the challenge of running my own franchise gardening business. It’s true that I enjoy interacting with others and I look forward to that aspect of the job. Indeed, I can’t wait to work with my future customers to help them get their gardens looking just right.”

“I look forward to building my customer base and fly the Ed’s flag in my local Byfleet area. Spring is definitely in the air already and it is such a lovely season for me to get things up and running.”

“Last but by no means least, my services are lawn mowing, hedge cutting, jet washing, garden tidy ups and garden clearances. And so there we are, a whole range of services to keep gardens looking fabulous throughout the year.”

We wish Nick all the very best with his new business and look forward to sharing news of his success in due course.

If you think Nick can help you with any of your garden’s needs, please do get in touch.

Ed’s gardener training is taken very seriously in Ed’s Garden Services. This goes far beyond initial training in competently and confidently delivering our range of gardening services. Initial training is really important. However, it is just as important to continuously build on this knowledge with the provision of ongoing training in a wide range of topics. We learn from the very best in the horticultural business. We cover developments in products and equipment. Furthermore, we concentrate on topical areas relating to lawns and plants. Finally we keep abreast of any important regulation changes. This is all part and parcel of our gardeners having all the tools (actual and metaphorical!) to deliver really good customer service.

Ed’s Gardener Training – Hot off the press…

Just last week we ran an Ed’s training session at our office. We invited along our go to horticultural expert who put us through our paces on all that is new in the world of gardening. We really enjoy these interactive sessions which often include quizzes etc. to test our gardening knowledge and to keep our knowledge current.

Furthermore, we structure our training sessions so our gardeners get a chance to share their gardening challenges and successes. This is really valuable as we learn from each other’s experiences and we can build this in to our day to day customer service.

The after party…

Ed’s gardeners are most definitely a sociable bunch. They join us partly because they thrive on the social interaction aspect of running a good gardening business. It’s Ed’s tradition to put on a barbecue after our training sessions. This gives everyone a chance to catch up socially and our gardeners really enjoy it.

As luck would have it last week, just as we were winding up our classroom session and were getting ready to fire up the barbecue, the heavens well and truly opened. However, no one was fazed by a spot of rain – we are gardeners after all!

Ed himself started off on the barbecue, another Ed’s tradition. His burgers topped with stilton are truly legendary!

However, on this occasion, David, our Tunbridge Wells gardener offered to lend a helping hand at the helm of the barbecue. David is originally from South Africa and joked that barbecue cooking is in his DNA! His barbecuing skills were indeed pretty impressive – almost as good as his gardening ones! As always, Wellington the Ed’s labrador, was on hand to pick up any dropped pieces of, well anything really.

A well spent afternoon and evening before our gardeners headed home, well fed and with lots of food for thought to keep themselves at the very top of their gardening game.

Mark Barker has recently joined Ed’s to run his gardening business in Stourbridge and surrounding areas. Mark has a background in education, although he has also been a keen hobby gardener for many years. All trained, business-ready, van freshly branded and raring to go, Mark is available to take on a whole range of gardening work in the Stourbridge area.

Here is what Mark has to say, “I am so much looking forward to getting started with my brand new business. I know the Stourbridge area very well. Having lived there for a long time, I look forward to servicing my local community. I am available immediately to fulfil a whole range of garden maintenance needs. I look forward to building relationships with a number of customers. Indeed I hope many of them will turn into regular customers. And so, it is so exciting to be setting up a local gardening business within the Ed’s brand. In conclusion, I’ve wanted to do this for a long time and, now it is real, I couldn’t be happier.”

Mark’s core services are lawn mowing, hedge cutting, garden tidy-ups, garden clearances and turfing. Please get in touch if Mark can help you get your garden back in shape for spring.

Mark Stanton recently set up his own Ed’s gardening business in Ramsgate, an area he knows and loves. After working in sales for many years, Mark traded his corporate job for the great outdoors, and now earns a living doing what he loves. Three months into his new venture, we caught up with Mark to find out how he is getting on…

Experience

“I felt like I had quite a bit of gardening experience even before joining Ed’s,” Mark said. “It’s just something that I have always loved and feel very passionate about.” Before his career change, Mark had done lots of gardening jobs for friends and family, as well as in his own garden. He even completed a professional garden design course, just for fun.

“Time really has flown since I decided to go ahead with setting up my Ed’s gardening business,” Mark said. “Since starting, I’ve had great training on delivering all the core Ed’s services, and I feel that I have been more than well-prepared for actually doing the job. In addition, I’ve found that the business skills training has been really good.

“I’ve been very lucky that an Ed’s Spring training session took place a couple of weeks ago. The timing for that was just perfect for me and the content was excellent.

“The training day gave me a great insight on growing my business successfully, and I got the opportunity to meet a lot of other Ed’s operators. The session really reinforced just what is achievable if you put the right building blocks in place as you go along.”

Starting work

“I’ve had some really interesting gardening jobs already. I’m also meeting some really lovely customers and I’m thoroughly enjoying doing my best to ensure that they are happy with my work.”

“Recently, I’ve worked on a very large garden clearance as one of my first jobs. The garden had not been touched for almost twenty years and it was a big job with a high level of skill required.”

“It was actually a really interesting job for me, a bit like a jigsaw puzzle. To start with, it was impossible to see what the layout of the garden was. It was just one big jumble with layers upon layers of years of growth.

“Gradually the footprint of the garden started to appear and I could see the care that had initially been taken it laying it all out and adorning it with garden seats and planters. To be honest, it was a bit like a mini Lost Garden of Heligan!”

“I definitely got a lot of satisfaction from completing this job. It was a very physical but immensely rewarding. I really enjoyed the work but by far the best bit was the fact that the customer was hugely appreciative.”

The value of a job well done

“* * * * * Mark has done a fantastic job at my father in-law’s and has brought the garden back under control ready for regular maintenance, would recommend for all garden services.”

– A five star review for Mark

“I’m finding that I’m getting strong recommendations from happy customers already, which is wonderful for my confidence.

“I think that’s the best accolade you can get for your work, someone recommending you to a friend, family member or neighbour because you have made a great impression by doing a brilliant job for them. I get huge satisfaction from that.”

My thoughts for the future

“I suspected I would love doing gardening for a living and I do. It’s lovely to see spring all around and I can’t wait to develop my business as much as I can in the season ahead.”

“I know that the lawn mowing season is just beginning. I’m really looking forward to developing lawn mowing and hedge cutting, as well as building up my regular customer base.”

Please get in touch

Please give Mark a call if he can help you with any of your garden maintenance requirements in the Ramsgate area.

The Ed’s team had an early start (even by gardener standards!) last week. We got up with the lark and were out in force for our seasonal visit to RHS Wisley, Surrey.

Our spring training session is an important event in the Ed’s calendar, and very popular with our gardeners. It gives operators a chance to spend time with each other, share their experiences and increase their knowledge.

In previous training sessions, our gardeners have learnt about everything from getting rid of wild garlic to the impact of wet weather on gardens.

The Classroom 

This year, we kicked off the morning with an expert-led classroom session. You can’t help being impressed by our expert’s encyclopaedic knowledge of all things garden-related.

It is great to hear about all the new products and developments in the world of gardening, and we know how important that is to provide the best possible gardening services to our lovely customers.

We continued with a full briefing on recent changes in gardening regulations and wound up our session with an open-floor Q&A session.  

The Gardens

We can’t visit RHS Wisley without taking a tour of the beautiful gardens. We are always bowled over by their stunning displays and it is so inspiring to seeing gardening creativity at work in this very special place.

The gardens are even more magical in the early morning light, before all the visitors arrive. We were lucky to be visiting while it felt like spring (before the snow hit Surrey again!)  

Back to business

Our training was all done and dusted by 9.30 am. We had time for a quick chat after the session before we headed back home to get on with  the very important business of keeping our customers happy.